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Re: Arthur Murray Showcase
Posted by dancer
7/30/2006  5:30:00 PM
Hi all,
learning to dance can be a tricky buisness with finding a good instructor, watching out for sales tactics which make you pay/buy more lessons. Its everywhere and truly speaking dancing is a buisness.
But at the end of the day its what you really want out of your lessons and where you want to be with your dancing. All studios apart from private/group classes have competitions, social nights. showcases etc...but then its upto each individual to decide if they are ready for it or not and are ready to sell out more money just to be in the comp.
If you think you are being forced to do something that you would not normally doo or are feeling uneasy about the whole idea of taking part in a showcase just because you are not ready to dance, then dont do it.
no subject
Posted by anon
7/3/2007  7:38:00 AM
Whats a showcase?
no subject
Posted by terence2
7/5/2007  5:55:00 AM
essentially, performances in varying levels ( Bronze thru Gold ) in the different genres of ballroom .

Normally at Pro/ Amat. status. Routines are done solo, and graded on all the points relevant to the dance performed .

These types of events, are usually " closed " ,and were introduced by the chain schools, as a good revenue source .They can be done " in house " as many are, or at regional type events .
Re: Arthur Murray Showcase
Posted by Anonymous
7/31/2006  12:34:00 PM
anon,

The lady friend that is preparing for the showcase is also my dance partner.
She has a very sketchy background in dance. She is from E. Europe and danced folk and ballroom with a traveling company-had never done any competition, social dancing, or ever heard of a showcase until moving here 7 years ago. She had never had a private lesson. They were just assigned a partner and went to work. All of their lessons were very demanding group lessons. They did lots of solo drilling, class drilling, and the teacher was very much a dictator. All of the dance was choreographed with a group--she said she did a Jive routine once that lasted 7 minutes.

When we started dancing together I was a total beginner and she was more advanced than me. She attended private lessons, but they were about 65% for me--and I paid for them.

Now she is paying for her own private lessons and possibly doing this showcase. She says she did Int. Latin at a high level about 23 years ago, but has forgotten most of it. She could't remember a hockey stick. She is finding out that she is weak in lots of technique issues. She is not a beginner in some ways, but she is like starting over with these Latin dances and the very specific footwork and technique. She knows the syllabus, but it gets mixed up with time and different language. We competed recently in Int Latin and this helped her realize that she needed some work. We did American Rhythm for years and have switched to Int. Latin recently. I am way ahead of her in some ways since I have been taking lessons, competing, and working with my teacher partner for about 1 1/2 years.

We had lots of problems and wasted lesson time on choreograpy issues. She is very picky about what figures she will dance. Lots of lesson time was wasted on this using my dime.

I watched her last lesson and she is improving drastically. It's funny to watch and listen to the process. Her lesson costs about $65 per hour and she is on a tight budget and is very frugal.
Guess she wants the teacher to read her mind on acceptable choreography just for her. I think now she has given up on any type of choreography and is settling for him to just help with the basic technique on each latin dance. I am very happy that she is taking private lessons now. I take from the same teacher and at some point we may split a lesson. We plan on competing again in May. The interest in private lessons for her are to help prepare her to be a dance teacher.
Re: Arthur Murray Showcase
Posted by Carie
8/12/2013  6:09:00 PM
I have been dancing for 4 years now but my partner is moving away. Needless to say, I am looking for a new male lead who is 5ft.9in. or taller (to make turns etc. easier). I have taken 4 yrs. of lessons plus weekly practices & dances. I am not perfect but together am willing to do my share.4436MJ

If anyone out there is interested or knows where I should look, please e-mail me @
613-273-2067.
Re: Arthur Murray Showcase
Posted by danz4joy
8/12/2007  2:12:00 PM
For the average student, a showcase will take 10 additional lessons even if you are not learning very difficult steps. Performance dancing is very different than social dancing. You have to memorize the choro=eography, and work on technique and presintation. But if you put in the commitment and practice time, I assure you that you will be happy with the outcome, and you will learn alot in that dance.
Re: Arthur Murray Showcase
Posted by danz4joy
8/12/2007  2:15:00 PM
Everyone makes mistakes and messes up during performances. That's par for the course. Embrace that and use it as a tool for learning. just like in life, learn from your mistakes and mishaps in dancing. they will make you a stronger dancer, and will make you more confident.
Re: Arthur Murray Showcase
Posted by TomT
9/6/2010  6:15:00 PM
You mentioned that there are three levels of dance lessoning. The first level being when a student dances with a teacher. What are the other levels?
Re: Arthur Murray Showcase
Posted by Anon3
9/11/2006  6:51:00 PM
Emanon 56. How different it is from some other countries where the competition couples belong to a club and would not allow any person on the floor if they weren't ready. It does nothing for the image of dancing to see people struggling, in some cases it is as a dancer embarrassing to watch.
Re: Arthur Murray Showcase
Posted by Anonymous
6/5/2007  6:34:00 PM
when are people going to wake up to themselves and realise AM is not a real dance studio. A friend of mine is on this site daily and brought my attention to a number of topics relating to AM. As a former am teacher I had a background in Ballet, tap and jazz and after a knee reconstruction I applied for a job at AM I was shown DVD's on how to learn the dances and additionally I was taught by a more experienced teacher in full view of the students waiting around for their lessons. AS a teacher we were told we can only teach 5 steps per level or if a student increased their payment amounts, this in turn held many of the students back. The teachers are not paid ridiculous amounts of money either.

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